This invention relates to construction in a carbonated beverage container, and more particularly to a unique lid structure which carries an electromagnetic-wave-readable, regionally unique redemption code.
In recent past years, several states have adopted mandatory deposit statutes under which beverage containers, glass, metal, and plastic, are required to "carry" a monetary deposit which is intended to encourage return and recycling of a container after use. Generally speaking, such legislation has been highly successful in promoting return, but also, has resulted in the usual redemption market outlets having to devote considerable space and time to redemption handling.
Considering, for a moment, the metallic can sector of beverage containers, this, at the present, makes up a large part of the beverage container population. Such cans usually include two main parts--a unitary body (side wall and base) and an attached lid. Each body is printed with a universal product code (UPC) which, among other things, uniquely identifies the product for which the ultimate can is intended, and the producer. UPC information for a given product is uniform throughout the states.
Can lids are manufactured separately, and are assembled into bodies during a canning operation. Lids which are to be used in each of the several different mandatory deposit states are printed separately with the appropriate state name and redemption amount.
In light of the enormous redemption task engendered by such deposit statutes, much considertion has been given to the successful development and utilization of some sort of automatic redemption system, such as a can redemption system, which will offer high-speed economical return handling. Among the important considerations relating to such a system are (1) its ability to determine that a returned can is properly redeemable in the particular state where the system is used, and (2) its ability to identify returned cans according to their different sources of origin.
A general object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide, for a beverage can body of the kind generally described a unique lid joinable with such a body, which lid bears an electromagnetic-wave-readable redemption code appropriate to the particular state wherein redemption is to take place, and/or to the particular producer of the can's contents.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, such a lid is proposed on which there is formed, at two arcuately displaced locations, an optically readable code patch which takes the form of radially extending linear code elements whose arrangement pattern contains the desired coded information. Two different kinds of codes, among many, seem to offer special promise for this purpose--one of these being a binary-type code, and the other being a frequency-type code.
Three different types of code structures are described herein. One takes the form of radially-extending linear indentations, or valleys, in a lid. Another takes the form of similar radially extending linear ridges which project outwardly. And a third takes the form of reflectance-contrasting printing on the outer face of a lid, also in the form of radially extending lines.
While different forms of electromagnetic radiation may be used to read such a code, the one which is disclosed herein takes the form of a circularly swept laser beam whose impingement with a can lid is reflected, through a suitable optical system, onto a photodetector.
While a single code patch may be suitable for most situations, the can lid described hereinbelow includes two arcuately spaced code patches which are identical, and which afford reading redundancy to obviate errors resulting from defacing or dirtiness of one of the code patches.